Author: Peter Gray

Lending an air of femininity to the western genre – one so often entangled with a masculine temperament – without compromising its rooted personality, Leah Purcell‘s The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson is the cinematic incarnation of her penned 2016 stage play and 2019 novel, all inspired by Henry Lawson‘s short story, “The…

Just because they’re super – doesn’t make them heroes! In DC League of Super-Pets, Krypto the Super-Dog (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) and Superman (John Krasinski) are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime in Metropolis side by side. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince…

The 69th Sydney Film Festival has announced it’s opening night film, presenting the world premiere of We Are Still Here as its Gala event at the State Theatre on the 8th of June. The film, which will be followed by a post-screening celebration in the Sydney Town Hall, is a multi-genre First Nations collaboration that…

Given how crucial Benedict Cumberbatch‘s Doctor Strange was to the events of both Avengers: Infinity War and last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s easy to forget that he hasn’t had all that much time dedicated to solely earning his own spotlight.  And whilst he earns titular rights in Sam Raimi‘s bonkers sequel – Doctor…

Bringing to a close 12 days of cinema celebration, the 20th annual Gold Coast Film Festival went out in suitable style with festival ambassador Lincoln Lewis, and actors Luke Hemsworth, Isabel Lucas, Rasmus King and director Tyler Atkins, there to celebrate the premiere of Bosch & Rockit, a soaring true story based on Atkins’ own…

Life could be a dream. If only all my precious plans would come true. If you would let me spend my whole life loving you. Life could be a dream, sweetheart. After her critically acclaimed high-school set comedy debut Booksmart, director Olivia Wilde looks to be proving no flash in the pan with her bold…

After his more theatrical (and unrecognizable) turn earlier in the year in The Batman, Colin Farrell brings a more natural, introspective quality to After Yang, Kogonada‘s poignant science-fiction drama that evokes memories of Her, Ex-Machina, and Blade Runner 2049 throughout. An adaptation of Alexander Weinstein‘s 2016 short story “Saying Goodbye to Yang”, Kogonada’s film throws you…

The Lords and Ladies of Downton have returned. Ushering in a new year and a new era on screen, Julian Fellowes‘ acclaimed drama series has graduated from six television series, to now two acclaimed filmic continuations. To coincide with the anticipated release of Downton Abbey: A New Era (you can read our review here), which…

Everything Everywhere All At Once is now one of A24’s highest grossing releases in the studio’s history, with audiences the world over enamoured with The Daniels‘ trippy, emotional multi-versal action film. If you’re yet to experience Michelle Yeoh‘s extravagance (or you just want to see it again!) we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2)…

2019’s Downton Abbey, a filmic continuation of the long-running upstairs/downstairs television series that very much played to its strengths of catering to its devoted fans, was a product that very much felt like it had little interest in truly introducing a new dynamic. For Downton Abbey: A New Era, its bi-line is particularly apt, with…

Netflix have released the first official still and release date for their forthcoming Chris Hemsworth thriller Spiderhead. Based on “Escape from Spiderhead” by George Saunders, a short story from The New Yorker, the Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) directed film follows a brilliant visionary (Hemsworth’s Steve Abnesti) who runs a state-of-the-art penitentiary who experiments on…

Thanks to Potential Films, we have 3 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to give away for the upcoming release of Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy, the new film from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director of the Oscar-winning Drive My Car, set for release in Australian cinemas from April 28th, 2022. Composed of three short stories, WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY is a Japanese…

To get to infinity and beyond, we need to explore the before.  The upcoming animated sci-fi adventure Lightyear, from Disney and Pixar, is the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear, the hero who inspired Toy Story‘s fearless space warrior. Lightyear follows the legendary Space Ranger (voiced by Chris Evans) after he’s marooned on a hostile…

“I will avenge you, Father; I will save you, Mother; I will kill you, Fjölnir.” These muttered, repeated words by Viking prince Amleth (played by Oscar Novak as a young boy, and a hulking, angry Alexander Skarsgård as an adult) are essentially summarising Robert Eggers‘ narrative intentions in The Northman, an ugly, brutal, at-times Shakespearean drama….

In the lead-up to the release of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Nicolas Cage spoke of the countless VOD titles he had littered his filmography with over the last decade-or-so – film choices made primarily to pay off serious debt – with a positive tongue.  Whilst such trashy thrillers as Inconceivable, Trespass, and Left…

As Gillian Anderson states – under a set of prominent teeth that appear almost caricaturish in their imagery as Eleanor Roosevelt – being a first lady isn’t a job, it’s a “circumstance”.  Such a circumstance, it would seem, that Showtime thought it only fair to showcase the women behind some of the most powerful Presidential…

With The Good Boss currently screening in Australian theatres (you can read our review here), Peter Gray spoke with the film’s writer and director, Fernando León de Aranoa, about creating such an interesting character, balancing the tone between humour and drama, and working with Javier Bardem, an actor he trusts enough to take risks with…

Now streaming on Shudder, The Cellar (you can read our review here) is a haunted house-themed horror film starring Elisha Cuthbert as a mother whose daughter mysteriously vanishes in the cellar of her family’s new house in the country.  She soon discovers there is an ancient and powerful entity controlling the home that she will have…

Whilst The Cellar won’t exactly be riding high on viewers’ lists of must-see scary movies, Brendan Muldowney‘s haunted house horror effort at least conjures an atmosphere and an unlikely climax to earn it valid points for trying. Muldowney’s script initially plays into the genre tropes we expect when Keira Woods (Elisha Cuthbert) and her family…

Thanks to Universal Pictures we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to give away for the upcoming release of The Northman, starring Alexander Skarsgard and Nicole Kidman, set for release in cinemas from April 21st, 2022. From visionary director Robert Eggers comes THE NORTHMAN, an action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince on his…

Javier Bardem knows how to play men with a charmingly evil demeanour, and in The Good Boss (El Buen Patrón) – which reunites the actor with his Loving Pablo director Fernando León de Aranoa – his confident walk and solid grey quaff of hair lend themselves to a disarming character who uses his good standing…

The idea of a multiverse isn’t a new faction within the science-fiction film realm, but because the comic book movie has become more and more prominent in the last decade – and last year’s biggest film took the idea and ran with it to the most epic of proportions – no doubt something like Everything…

Thanks to Sharmill Films we have 10 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to give away for the upcoming release of The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem, set for release in cinemas from April 14th, 2022. Blanco (Academy Award winner Javier Bardem), the charismatic owner of a family-run scale factory, is under pressure as he covets…

Streaming on AMC+, That Dirty Black Bag is a raw, epic and romantic eight-part series about the dark side of the Far West.  Starring Douglas Booth as bounty hunter Red Bill and Dominic Cooper as the savage Sheriff McCoy, the series follows their eight-day clash as blood, bullets and bodies fly in the wake of…

The 69th annual Sydney Film Festival has announced a sneak peak look at 22 film titles that will be featured during this year’s event, running 8th-19th June, 2022. Ahead of its full program announcement on 11th May, this first taste of of programming “gives audiences a snapshot of the selection and flavour of films featured…

Thanks to Paramount Pictures we have 10 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to give away for the upcoming release of The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Brad Pitt, set for release exclusively in cinemas from April 14th, 2022. Brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) has spent her career writing about…

When people look at films that are super beloved and then hear stories about the difficulties or tragedies that happen on set, they then go onto describe that production as “cursed”.  After exploring such controversial productions as Twilight Zone: The Movie and Poltergeist during its first season, Cursed Films II explores a further quintet of…

Despite both Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton proving their worth as action figures within the spy genre previously – Pine in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and Newton in Mission: Impossible II – All The Old Knives steps away from the action-driven physicality of the genre and opts for proceedings more in tune with a John…

The magic of the Wizarding World is once again conjured with the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (you can read our review here).  As the film prepares for its global launch, Peter Gray was fortunate to speak with key cast members Eddie Redmayne, Jessica Williams, Mads Mikkelsen, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner and…

There’s a certain amount of baggage and controversy that comes with the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, additives that, for the sake of the film itself, I won’t delve into; a swift google will catch you up to speed though. From the off, Fantastic Beasts was always a series that seemed a…